Business Wire International: France

Today we continue our series of posts from our colleagues outside the US, with a look at Business Wire’s experiences in France from Agnes Deleuse, Marketing Specialist.

Challenge, challenge, challenge!

The youngest of all Business Wire European offices, Paris opened its doors in the fall of 2005. Business Wire Paris was thus fully operational when the TOD (Transparency Obligations Directive) was enforced in January 2007. Getting the authorization by the French Market Authority to distribute disclosure information was certainly a decisive factor to attract global companies listed on the CAC40.

Representing an important part of our business, disclosure news distributionwas a good way for companies using our services to discover Business Wire and the many advantages of a newswire service. These companies started to realize they could introduce the wire in their marketing and communications strategy, for Business Wire has so much to offer, from global distribution to industry specific media coverage, multimedia posting, search engine optimization and XBRL formatting.

But too many French companies are still unfamiliar with the wire. There is a long educational process to implement here because French people are sometimes too conservative. Changing their marketing and communications habits to use a wire can be considered a revolution.

However, in the economic turmoil the world is now facing, changing marketing behavior is going to be a necessity. There is therefore a new chance for the wire, and thus for Business Wire. Companies want to continue to communicate but are tied to cost reduction, while print media is on a downward slope. Reaching international press agencies, online services, portals, journalists, investors and various trade communities is so easy with a wire service.

French companies are slowly incorporating this new media concept to cope with the economic environment. In France, we have noticed that our new clients are experimenting with the wire on a one-shot basis to start with. Some have already repeated the experience and we hope that they will continue using Business Wire in the long term. The online visibility and SEO tools are certainly enticing. Companies are adapting to a new situation, and so are we.

Thus, challenge is our daily sport.

But there is a corporate challenge as well: International offices have to face many differences from their counterparts in the United States. Speaking a foreign language is a major one, adapting existing tools from the US market to European customers is another. But so far, so good. European offices are very young and still growing.

But should there be no challenge, there would be no fun. We have to be constantly inventive and creative to go on the lookout for new clients, to find new ways and new words to promote Business Wire, its products and services. The high existing potential is very stimulating and the Business Wire Paris team* is up front to face the challenge.

Agnes Deleuse
Marketing Specialist
Business Wire France

*Business Wire Paris office team (12): a regional manager, a sales manager, two account executives, one CSR, one MRT, one marketing specialist, and a newsroom of five persons.

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